Venmo has consistently maintained high ratings, typically between 4.8 and 4.9, with millions of ratings. It ranks among the top payment apps in terms of download activity, user retention, and top chart rankings.

Venmo's most prominent feature is that it embeds transfers within social relationships. After completing a transfer, users can view their friends' recent payment history on a social media-like feed. While the amount is hidden by default, the transaction recipient, emojis, and textual comments in the payment note are displayed. This design elevates payment from a cold, financial transaction to one that incorporates a sense of chatting, interaction, and documenting life. Users often use humorous comments like coffee money, yesterday's pizza, and rent share, making payments part of social communication and enhancing the interactive experience.

Secondly, Venmo has put considerable effort into user experience. Account linking, adding friends, and transferring funds are all extremely streamlined, allowing users to confirm and send funds in just a few clicks. The app supports balance payments, bank card linking, and credit card payments. Credit card payments may incur a fee, while balance and debit card payments are generally free. For users, this high level of transparency and clear fee structure facilitates daily use and reduces concerns about unclear terms.

Pros

Venmo's first strength is its social payment model. It capitalizes on the younger users' preference for relaxed interaction and playful expression, making the tedious payment process more emotional. This emotional expression not only makes payment relationships transparent but also alleviates the awkwardness that can arise from borrowing and repaying money. A second advantage is its fast transfer speed and smooth operation, resulting in an intuitive user experience that doesn't require complex financial knowledge to master. A third advantage is its strong user base and frequency of use. Many of a user's friends are using Venmo, creating a network effect that makes it easier to establish a social internal circulation payment system. Fourth, its backing by PayPal provides a strong security mechanism and fund custody capabilities, instilling a certain level of trust in users.

Cons

First, its service is significantly limited in geographical area, currently primarily used within the United States. Due to identity verification, banking system compatibility, and regulatory restrictions, non-US users or those without local bank accounts face difficulties in using it smoothly, making it less competitive among international payment apps. Second, Venmo's default public disclosure of social updates sparked privacy controversy, with some users forgetting to change their privacy settings, resulting in payment records being displayed on their public pages, raising concerns. While the app offers privacy options, the default policy presents a barrier to user understanding. Third, while Venmo's payment system is stable, large transfers or cross-border funds still require processing through channels like PayPal, limiting its scalability. Fourth, some users may experience lengthy review times when withdrawing funds or linking their cards, a particularly significant issue when linking with overseas banks.